Mobile asset management is managing availability and serviceability of assets used to move, store, secure, protect and control

inventory Inventory (British English) or stock (American English) is a quantity of the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying ...

within the enterprise and along the

supply chain A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distri ...

or in conjunction with service providing. Mobile assets are e.g. of the classes of * returnable, reusable containers used to transport raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods through the supply chain. * precious tools and apparatuses used in technical services and required for proper performing such services with fully valid certification * any other objects of a value that justifies additional tagging for the purpose of managing the object and its availability * any other objects with a certification that terminates after certain time which justifies the controlled return for next inspection * persons under special threat on site of operation. * Rental companies are increasingly turning to

asset tracking Asset tracking refers to the method of tracking physical assets, either by scanning barcode labels attached to the assets or by using tags using GPS, BLE, LoRa, or RFID which broadcast their location. These technologies can also be used for in ...

for all larger pieces of equipment in order to manage theft, misuse of assets and to assist in the management of

Preventive maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

Tracking mobile assets

The business justification to invest in asset tracking capability is usually the risk of loss. This can be loss of the asset directly, or loss of the ability to render service to customers that is enabled by the asset. For example, the business may have a few critical tools, and the loss of just one of these tools would significantly degrade the ability to perform necessary work. Thus, the assets being tracked may a) have specific quantifiable capital value or b) general aggregate operational value. Examples for such assets include *

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

keg A keg is a small cask used for storing liquids. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. Nowadays a keg is normally constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is ...

s, *

intermediate bulk container Intermediate bulk containers (also known as IBCs, IBC totes, or pallet tanks) are industrial-grade containers engineered for the mass handling, transport, and storage of liquids, partial solids, pastes, granular solids or other fluids. There are ...

s (IBCs) used in the food and chemical industries, * racks for

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

and automotive parts, * unit load devices (ULDs) used in the

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

industry. *

Line-replaceable unit A line-replaceable unit (LRU), lower line-replaceable unit (LLRU), line-replaceable component (LRC), or line-replaceable item (LRI) is a modular component of an airplane, ship or spacecraft (or any other manufactured device) that is designed to b ...

LRUs of in-field operational installations * rolling cages, * collapsible

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

containers for raw materials, * portable

surgical instruments A surgical instrument is a medical device for performing specific actions or carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue, or to provide access for viewing it. Over time, many different kinds of ...

* medical devices in

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

s and subject of repetitive certification.

Non-Asset Mobile Tracking Applications

Persons may be tracked within a controlled geographical area; e.g. hospital patients, visitors in a secure facility, or workers in power plants, chemical plants, or tunnel construction sites. People can be actively tracked to locate them reliably and quickly in the unfortunate case of disaster.Making Business Sense of Real Time Location Systems (RTLS)
RFID Radio Person-tracking is a highly specialized application that requires special-purpose technology, and is only workable within a specific, controlled environment. Tracking an individual person in an open, uncontrolled environment without special instrumentation is not realistically possible.

Concerns with usage of tracking mobile assets

These assets are often in the hands of third party entities (such as suppliers,

customer In sales, commerce, and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a Client (business), client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a Good (economics), good, service (economics), service, product (business), product, or an Intellectual prop ...

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

providers and carriers) and out of sight and control of the owning entity. They usually represent a significant

capital expenditure Capital expenditure or capital expense (abbreviated capex, CAPEX, or CapEx) is the money an organization or corporate entity spends to buy, maintain, or improve its fixed assets, such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, or land. It is considered ...

for companies and their management and maintenance is resource-intensive. On average, businesses spend 5% of annual

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

on logistics assets, and almost one-fifth of respondents spend more than 10%. The annual costs include the replacement of lost or damaged special containers, where typically up to 30% of the containers are surplus in circulation just because nobody knows when and where.

Outsourcing mobile asset management

Mobile asset management providers manage asset operation within the supply chain, directing the activities of a client's third party logistics company as needed and ensure proper services are performed on the asset (handling,

cleaning Cleaning is the process of removing unwanted substances, such as dirt, infectious agents, and other impurities, from an object or environment. Cleaning is often performed for beauty, aesthetic, hygiene, hygienic, Function (engineering), function ...

maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...

repair The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installat ...

). These providers also study business processes within the supply chain and help optimize each process.

Methods of tracking

Different methods exist to track and manage mobile assets. Today, companies use labor-intensive manual processes to track assets between

manufacturers Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

and

distributor A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design ...

s, which can result in higher supply chain costs and processes that are less reliable due to natural

human error Human error is an action that has been done but that was "not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits".Senders, J.W. and Moray, N.P. (1991) Human Er ...

. Specific identification of the container's origin and destination is virtually impossible under this method.

Components of mobile asset management

Mobile asset management solutions can include one or more of these parts: * Server unit * Database unit * Wireless tags for the units * Illumination bases for wireless communications (GSM) * Locating receivers (GPS)

Asset tracking technology

More sophisticated mobile asset management companies use the most advanced means of tracking assets available today, such as

radio-frequency identification Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically Automatic identification system, identify and Tracking system, track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, ...

. RFID automatically captures data on each individual container and can indicate container contents without ever having to open the container. This technology is also combined with software applications that collect, maintain, track and analyze the data and provide customized reporting of the location, status, and audit and maintenance history of each asset. For example, Wayne Memorial hospital has saved $300,000 by tracking for infusion pumps with

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

technology that can piggyback on the Wi-Fi system already in place. That system is known as "Active" RFID because it uses tags that have batteries and constantly beacon. The most popular form of Asset Tracking using RFID is "passive" RFID using ISO Standard 18000-6c. The Financial Services Technology Consortium created a standard for tracking assets at bank locations see www.FSTC.org. The company that performed the work for FSTC and most of the member banks is

ODIN Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

and they have a specialty RFID Asset Tracking Software.

Flexible pricing options

Management providers typically offer flexible

financing Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

options, including pay-per-use,

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...

leasing A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

models. Each financing option provides a predictable monthly asset-related expense.

Benefits of mobile asset management

The major benefits of mobile asset management include: * Improve visibility of assets in the supply chain * Meet compliance mandates of customers * Improve asset tracking and inventory control across multiple facilities * Reduce loss or damage of goods while in transit * Streamline business processes having to do with assets * Reduced labor cost and

with automatic asset tracking technology * Reductions in theft and improvements in rental utilization http://www.qualcomm.com/common/documents/white_papers/QUALCOMM-WP-EquipmentRental.pdf Using technology to improve profitability

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mobile Asset Management Supply chain management Radio-frequency identification Tracking